Delimbing and debarking devices have traditionally consisted of a feedway for advancing and controlling the movement of trees or bark-bearing slabs, and a rotatable drum which retains a number of flexible flails for detaching branches and bark from the trees or slabs as they are conveyed past the rotating drum.
Conventional methods for connecting chain flails to the rotatable drum consist of either (1) welding clips or lugs to the periphery of the drum and securing a link of the chain thereto through the use of nut and bolt assemblies, as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,023,604 and 4,061,166, or (2) providing a drum surface with a series of holes into which a portion of the end link of the chain may extend, the end link being retained to the drum by a circular rod which passes through a portion of the link, as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,792,860 and 2,994,352.
While the latter type of retention is somewhat more desirable than securing the link to the outer surface of the drum, since the point of connection of the chains is interior to the drum and protected from contact by the free swinging portion of the chains, it is still disadvantageous in many respects. Further, the prior art does not reveal a design which reduces the shock placed upon the attaching end link while concurrently providing an arrangement which exhibits both increased bar shear strength, decreased bar wear, and reduced bar deflection.
Consequently, there exists a need in the art for an improved flail device which provides the features noted above as well as other related advantages.